Hungarian Archaeology E-Journal • 2016 Summer

HUNGARIAN ARCHAEOLOGY E-JOURNAL • 2016 SUMMER www.magyarregeszet.hu BRONZE AGE SETTLEMENT RESEARCH IN THE SOUTHERN BORSOD REGION KLÁRA P. FISCHL1 – TOBIAS L. KIENLIN2 – TAMÁS PUSZTAI3 The BORBAS (Borsod Region Bronze Age Settlements) research project that has been ongoing since 2012 in the Southern Borsod Plain and Bükk Foothills regions is aimed at examining the internal structure of Middle Bronze Age settlements and the use of space within these settlements, as well as the status of the settlements in the region and their relationship with one another. The research program is the joint work of the University of Miskolc, the Herman Ottó Museum in Miskolc and the University of Cologne. The objective is to examine all the known settlements according to an identical protocol, primarily with non-invasive techniques, and through the comparison of these data to answer questions about their settlement and social history. THE BORBAS PROJECT The BORBAS (Borsod Region Bronze Age Settlements) Project began in 2012 as the joint work of the University of Miskolc, the Herman Ottó Museum in Miskolc and the University of Cologne. The goal of the project is to get to know the internal structure of Early and Middle Bronze Age settlements in the area under study, to locate homesteads, to examine the functions of the internal units of the settlements and to compare the patterns of architecture and utilization amongst the individual parts. The next level is the evaluation of the status of the settlements within the region and the examination of their economic and social networks. In the long term, we would like to integrate the settlement history data of this micro-region into the Hatvan and Füzesabony cultures, as well as the broader historical context of the Bronze Age. The research is being performed primarily through the use of a set of non-invasive examination techniques. ELEMENTS OF THE SET OF NON-INVASIVE RESEARCH TECHNIQUES4 1. Geodesic survey, as a result of which a 3D terrain model is generated of the given area. This provides the professional data that is the basis for mapping. Prior to 2013 the data necessary for the model were compiled by traditional surveys on the ground, and following this by using a photographic 3D procedure (Fig. 1). 2. Aerial photography. On the one hand we collect, evaluate and compare archival aerial images and pic- tures taken using remote-controlled processes that are related to Bronze Age settlements, and on the other hand through the subsequent processing of oblique aerial photographs taken for archaeological or personal reasons we produce orthophotographs in which the surface features can be identified in a coor- dinate corrected manner (Fig. 2). 1 Department of Archaeology and Prehistory at the Institute of Historical Science, School of the Humanities, University of Miskolc 2 Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, Universität zu Köln 3 Herman Ottó Museum 4 P. Fischl, Klára – Kienlin, Tobias L.– Tugya, Beáta: Bronze Age settlement research in North-Eastern Hungary (Bronzkori településkutatások Északkelet-Magyarországon). Archeometria Műhely XII (2015)/2, 117–134. (Last accessed: 18.5.2016) HUNGARIAN ARCHAEOLOGY E-JOURNAL • 2016 SUMMER 2 P. Fischl et al. • Bronze Age Settlement Research in the Southern Borsod Region 3. Geophysical surveying. If possible a geo- magnetic geophysical investigation is performed on the entire surface of the site using a Foerster-type Sensys magnetom- eter (grid line spacing: 0.5 m; sampling frequency: 0.05 cm). The pictorial presen- tation of the results occurs on a +/- 10 nT greyscale. The geophysical research and the archaeological evaluation of the mag- netogram is performed by the University of Cologne team (Fig. 3). 4. Systematic collection of surface finds. The largest area possible of the Bronze Age settlements is examined with this method in a grid system of 5x5 meter squares. All of the surface finds that can be discovered in the squares are collected. The ceramics are Fig. 1: Tard-Tatárdomb 3D relief model generated from oblique separated from the animal bone, shell and aerial photographs slag finds, stone materials and remains of daub. The ceramics finds are counted and weighed and then the data are recorded in a table on the basis of type and decoration. The field walk grid is recorded using a GPS system, through which the statistical data can be immediately represented visually. Different experts process the animal bone finds, stone materials and metal finds. The systematic collection of finds and the statistical analysis of the find materials take place with the collaboration of archaeology stu- dents at the University of Miskolc (Fig. 4). 5. Systematic investigations with metal detec- tors. Due to the time factors, searching for finds with instrumentation is only performed on those parts of the archaeological sites Fig. 2: Tard-Tatárdomb Bronze Age settlement with the Bükk Hills that are geomorphologically frequented and in the background considered more intensively used due to the concentration of ceramic fragments. During the systematic research, the investigations are not just performed in one direction, the areas that have already been covered are reexamined at right angles to the previous rows. In the second direction, a search head with different detection parameters is used. The locations of the archaeological finds discovered are recorded with satellite positioning equipment, and the areas covered are also recorded in the GPS tracklog mode. The effective depth of the metal detector is 30 cm, so the instrumental investigations only affect the upper, plowed level, and this method does not uncover finds that lay in undisturbed layers that have context. The searching for finds with this instrumentation is the work of István Bacskai (Fig. 5). 6. Soil coring. The objective of the sampling is on the one hand to discover the thickness of layers (or in the case of ditches, their depth) and the stratigraphic relationships between the various structural parts of the settlements, and on the other hand the gathering of data for environmental reconstruction research (Fig. 6). HUNGARIAN ARCHAEOLOGY E-JOURNAL • 2016 SUMMER 3 P. Fischl et al. • Bronze Age Settlement Research in the Southern Borsod Region Fig. 3: Grayscale image of the geophysical survey Fig. 4: Distribution according to weight of finds of Tard-Tatárdomb from the Tard-Tatárdomb site 7. Archaeozoological processing. The animal bone and shell materials gathered during the systematic collection of surface finds are evaluated archaeozoologically. The recording of bone size is performed according to Driesch 1976 and the determination of the age of death of the domestic animals is performed according to Schmid 1972. The archaeozoological analyses for the project are performed by Beáta Tugya (Fig. 7). 8. Analysis of metals. The analysis of metal objects discovered is performed by the LISA (Complex Lab- oratory of Image and Structure Analysis) laboratory at the University of Miskolc and the ARGUM (Archaeometallurgical Research Group of the University of Miskolc) work group. The investigations of elemental composition and manufacturing techniques on the objects examined are performed with optical microscopes (Zeiss AxioImager) and SEM-EDX (AMRAY 1830I scanning electron microscope equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray analyzer) methods. HUNGARIAN ARCHAEOLOGY E-JOURNAL • 2016 SUMMER 4 P. Fischl et al. • Bronze Age Settlement Research in the Southern Borsod Region Fig. 5: Triangular daggers from István Bacskai’s systematic Fig. 6: Core sample from the central section investigations with metal detector: Mezőcsát-Laposhalom, of the Mezőcsát-Laposhalom settlement Tiszabábolna-Fehérló tanya and Tiszakeszi-Szódadomb 9. The results of the aforementioned investigations are stored in a GPS system, where there is an opportunity to compare the individual elements visually, project them over one another layer by layer and evaluate the data (Fig. 8). RESEARCH AREA AND TIME FRAMEWORK The area examined is the Borsod Plain and the Bükk Foothills region in the period between 2200 and 1500 BC (Fig. 9). According to classical archaeological cultural classifications the region examined was part of the settlement area of the Hatvan and then the Füzesabony cultures. According to our cur- rent knowledge, during the period of the transfor- mation from the Early Bronze Age to the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 2000/1900 BC) in the micro-region examined, the Hatvan material culture5 was replaced Fig. 7: Comparative analysis of the animal bone materials by communities characterized by the Füzesabony from Tiszabábolna-Fehérló tanya, Tard-Tatárdomb ceramic style.6 However, the production of Hatvan and Mezőcsát-Laposhalom style ceramics did not disappear, but remained in use primarily in the areas to the west of the Eger Stream, and the communities using the two styles of ceramics were regional neighbors of one another.7 The communities using the Füzesabony ceramic style did, however, develop their habitations on the sites of earlier Hatvan settlements for the most part, so in this area the layers containing Hatvan style ceramics are overlaid by layers of Füzesabony style ceramics in the great majority of cases. Due to this, the settlements were utilized for a long time—for as much as the entire period under study—and therefore multilayered, so-called tell settlements were created. 5 Kalicz, Nándor: Die Frühbronzezeit in Nordost-Ungarn. Abriss der Geschichte des 19.–16. Jahrhunderts v. u. Z. Archaeologia Hungarica 45 (Budapest:

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